Trump jokingly asks National Prayer Breakfast to pray for a certain celebrity

President Donald Trump kicked off the annual National Prayer Breakfast in a lighthearted manner Thursday morning as he jokingly offered up prayers for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the "Celebrity Apprentice" ratings.

Trump's NBC show was handed off to Schwarzenegger, the former California governor, once Trump decided to run for president, he said Thursday. However, as Trump has hammered in many times since Schwarzenegger took over, the reality show's ratings haven't quite been that high.

"They hired a big, big movie star to take my place — Arnold Schwarzenegger. And we know how that turned out," Trump quipped at the annual breakfast. "The ratings went right down the tubes. It's been a total disaster."

"And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings," he continued, to laugher.

Trump was introduced by "Celebrity Apprentice" executive producer Mark Burnett at the breakfast, who in his introduction mentioned the "highly successful global television franchise" and how it came to be.

Trump's complaints with his former show haven't been few and far between since he has become president as he has even tweeted his displeasure about the show's ratings.

According to Vox, Schwarzenegger's "Celebrity Apprentice" debuted with 4.95 million live viewers and a 1.3 rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic. In comparison, Trump's final season with the show started with 6.31 million live viewers, including 2.4 in that critical age demographic.